Collaborative Research: Cosmogenic Radionuclides in the WAIS Divide Ice Core

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Caffee/0636815This award supports a 2-year project to measure the concentrations of the cosmogenic radionuclides, 10Be, 26Al and 36Cl, in Antarctic ice samples using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). This project is a pilot study for the future analysis of radionuclides from up to 1000 individual ice samples of the WAIS Divide deep ice core. Because of the large number of samples that are involved in these ice core studies, and the importance of a timely analysis of cosmogenic radionuclides, we are proposing to set up a second chemical separation line, at Purdue University, identical to the one developed at UC Berkeley for the Siple Dome and GISP-2 ice cores. After a thorough interlaboratory comparison on 12-16 test ice samples, we will use both extraction lines to measure cosmogenic radionuclides in a shallow ice core from the WAIS Divide. It is to be expected that the use of two chemical separation lines will increase the sample throughput by a factor of two, and ensure a timely analysis of the cosmogenic radionuclides by AMS at Purdue University. The intellectual merit of the project is that these measurements will enable scientists to separate local from global effects. By measuring several radionculides in ice cores from different locations one can disentangle whether variations in absolute radionuclide concentrations and their ratios are due to local effects such as variations in atmospheric circulation, deposition mechanisms, and snow accumulation rates; or whether they are due to variations in solar activity and geomagnetic field strength, the primary processes influencing the global production rates of cosmogenic nuclides in the atmosphere. Finally, a comparison of the 26Al/10Be ratios in the WAIS Divide shallow core with those measured in the GISP2 ice core will demonstrate if this ratio can be used as an absolute chronometer of old Antarctic ice. The broader impacts of this project include the formation of a multi-disciplinary team of collaborators for the interpretation of future analyses of cosmogenic radionuclide data from the WAIS Divide ice core, the involvement and training of undergraduate and graduate students in the chemical processing of ice samples and interpretation of the cosmogenic nuclide data in the wider scope of climate change research, and explaining the importance of ice core and climate change studies to a wide range of lab visitors and students from local schools.